Bullying Boogeymen
Bugbears feature in the nightmare tales of many races—great, hairy beasts that creep through the shadows as quiet as cats. If you walk alone in the woods, a bugbear will reach out of the bushes and strangle you. If you stray too far from the house at night, bugbears will scoop you up to devour you in their den. If a bugbear cuts off your head, your soul stays trapped inside, and the bugbears use your head to magically command all whom you once knew.
Lurid tales such as these have flowered from some seeds of truth. Bugbears do rely on stealth and strength to attack, preferring to operate at night. They do take the heads of enemy leaders, but they are no more likely to eat people indiscriminately than humans are. Bugbears aren't likely to attack lone travelers or wandering children unless they clearly have something to gain by doing so. From the viewpoint of the rest of the world, their aggression and savagery are thankfully offset by their rarity and lethargy.
Shiftless, Savage Layabouts
When they're not in battle, bugbears spend much of their time resting or dozing. They don't engage in crafting or agriculture to any great extent, or otherwise produce anything of value. They bully weaker creatures into doing their bidding, so they can take it easy. When a superior force tries to intimidate bugbears into service, they will try to escape rather than perform the work or confront the foe. Even when subsumed into a goblinoid host and drawn into war, bugbears must often be roused from naps and bribed to get them to do their duties.
This indolence offers no clue to how vicious the creatures are. Bugbears are capable of bouts of incredible ferocity, using their muscular bodies to exact swift and ruthless violence. At their core, bugbears are ambush predators accustomed to long periods of inactivity broken by short bursts of murderous energy. Ferocious though they may be, bugbears aren't built for extended periods of exertion.
Gang Mentality
Since bugbears aren't a particularly fecund race, their overall population is small and spread over a wide area. Bugbears live in family groups that operate much like gangs. The individuals in a group typically number fewer than a dozen, consisting of siblings and their mates as well as a handful of offspring and an elder or two. A gang lives in and around a small enclosure, often a natural cave or an old bear den, and it might have supplementary dens elsewhere in its territory that it uses temporarily when it goes on long forays for food.
In good times, a bugbear gang is tight-knit, and its members cooperate well when hunting or bullying other creatures. But when the fortunes of a gang turn sour, the individuals become selfish, and might sabotage one another to remove opposition or exile weaker or unpopular members to keep the rest of the gang strong. Fortunately for the race as a whole, even young and elderly bugbears have the ability to survive alone in the wild, and the cast-off members of a gang might eventually catch on with a different group.
Left to their own devices, bugbears have little more impact on the world than wolf packs. They subsist by crafting simple tools and hunting and gathering food, and gangs sometimes come together peacefully to exchange members and goods between them.
Peace in the Face of Divine Corruption
Curiously, bugbears can be rather peaceful creatures. For whatever reason, their laziness has gradually strewn them away from Bane's influence. The impulse to conquer and dominate has devolved into only occasional bullying, usually of troublesome creatures such as goblins or kobolds that many good-aligned creatures might find deserve it. They are rarely inclined to pick on anything stronger or smarter than them, including one another. When two bugbears get in a disagreement, they'll often just engage in a duel of stomping and posturing. Whoever makes the strongest impression is considered to have won the argument. Still, the influence of other bugbears taking notice and egging them on might infuriate the contenders, turning an otherwise harmless stomping competition into a real fight.
Unless manipulated by other goblinoids or desperate for resources, bugbears who are aware of civilized humanoids will generally steer clear and avoid provoking them. It is only when they are irritated and angry that their innate savagery and violent tendencies surface. If another creature can manage to befriend a bugbear—which is not an easy task given their disinterest—they can make gentle and loyal friends who make excellent protectors in times of conflict. Bugbears can subvert expectations of apathy, however, in cases where humans save or spare their lives, considering them an honorary member of their "gang" and occasionally offering them a life debt.
Bugbears in Avalor
Bugbears can be found all across Avalor, oftentimes in forested regions or within the vicinity of other goblinkin. They are sometimes coerced into joining goblin tribes or hobgoblin armies, although their loyalty is loose unless they hold some sort of significant stake or debt. Bugbears exist within the Krulan Empire, although only a handful serve as second-rate soldiers given how hard-pressed they can be to adhere to the hobgoblins' strict military standards.
The island of Kashyrr has a significant population of bugbears, who inhabit its dense jungles and prey on smaller races. They get along amicably with the tabaxi and aarakocra of the island and organize in small tribes led by strong chieftans. It is rare that bugbears of Kashyrr leave, but those who do often find piracy align with their way of life and can be valuable assets aboard any ship. There are also a sporadic number of bugbears across Avalor loyal to civilized humans, serving as bouncers, bodyguards, or enforcers.
Bugbear Traits
A bugbear character has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1 .
Age. Bugbears reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 80 years.
Alignment. Bugbears value self-sufficiency and violence. They are generally chaotic, organizing in loose gangs under charismatic and powerful leaders.
Size. Bugbears are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Long-Limbed. When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Sneaky. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
Surprise Attack. If you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack on your first turn in combat, the attack deals an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per combat.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write
Common and
Goblin.
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